Tit for Tat
by Moira
Summary: A straightforward fight on the high seas gets complicated as a split second decision by Sanji will change the relationship between himself and Zoro forever. T for Language/Violence -Updated!- Chapter 2: In Which Zoro Wonders What the Hell Just Happened
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: For all the lovers of Sanji / Zoro angst and those that enjoy the two of them getting good and bloodied up.

* * *

><p><strong>Tit for Tat<strong>

**...  
><strong>

Flocks of seagulls wheeled and dove under a blue sky unmarred by clouds. The weather was calm and pleasant on the Grand Line for a change, and the air was crisp with a salty bite from the spray kicked up by the Going Merry's passage. The crew of the ram figurehead caravel could be seen here and there going about their business in a relaxed pace, lulled into requiescence by the peace of lazy, summer day. At least until the jarring crunch, of course.

Sanji cursed explosively as half the sauce he had been reducing for lunch jumped from the pot onto the floor with the unexpected lurch. He briskly wiped the edge of the pan and mopped up the spillage on the floor before setting aside his apron and hurrying out onto the deck of the Merry. The impact had been large enough that the blond cook feared they'd run aground or hit a sea king. Whichever it was, he wished that just once trouble would wait 'til after he was done with lunch.

When he reached the deck he joined the small huddle of his crew mates by the railing. Nami, Zoro and Luffy were all staring up at an enormous double-masted galleon flying a red-skulled jolly roger which, by proximity, Sanji guessed had caused the crash. Its beam was nearly triple the Going Merry's and dozens of pirates crowded her rails, swords and muskets in hand. Sanji withdrew a fresh cigarette from his pack and lit it with a small sigh.

"How dare you run into us!" Nami yelled up at the crowd of pirates looking down from the other ship. "You ruined a perfectly good chart that I was working on!"

"You hear that, assholes?" Sanji growled. "You ruined our beautiful navigator's work AND you wasted some of the food I was preparing. If the quality of our lunch is affected, you WILL pay."

Zoro offered his own annoyed grunt to their protests, and Chopper emerged from below decks covered in white powder, his face scrunched up and tears forming at the corners of his big brown eyes.

"My experiment!" he wailed.

"And you have made our doctor cry," Robin added as she joined them from the foredeck, mug in hand.

There was angry muttering and shouting from the pirates opposite until a large, barrel-chested man with one ear bellowed back at them, "It was that strawhat shrimp that hit US!"

Indeed, as Sanji looked closer at the galleon's port side he noticed a rather large, fist-shaped hole.

A pause pregnant with meaning and ill intent lingered about for a moment until it became scared and left.

A rolled up chart and the heel of a shoe connected with Luffy's head at the same moment.

"It was YOU!" his crew yelled.

Luffy's rubber face distended comically with the impacts, but his grin remained fixed on the ship.

"I was boooooored," he whined. Nami raised the chart again.

"I'll bet they have treasure on board!" Luffy said quickly. "And supplies!" he added, looking cautiously at the cook's twitching leg.

"C'mon, it'll be good exercise!"

With that, the rubberman extended his arms to the other ship's railing and catapulted himself into the air. There was a collective groan, but Zoro loosened his swords and leapt after him with a grin. The remaining three watched their flight for a moment. Chopper cried piteously in the background.

"You ladies enjoy the rest of the afternoon," Sanji instructed. "I'll clean up this mess."

Robin smiled at him and sipped her coffee. "I shall see to our doctor, then," she murmured over the rim of her mug and strolled back towards the sobbing reindeer.

From above, Usopp began lobbing projectiles. "And I shall support you from here!" The sniper called, all but hidden behind the protective shell of the crow's nest.

Nami sighed and turned back towards the galley. "Sanji-kun, make sure you get whatever valuables they have."

"As you command," the cook replied with a bow, though privately his mind was back in the kitchen and fretting over the sauce still on the stove. He figured he probably had another few minutes before it started burning. And with a final glance at the galley door, he too launched himself at the ship.

* * *

><p>How their captain managed to find and piss off the only other vessel they'd seen for days didn't shock Sanji, it just filled him with a deep and vigorous urge to smoke the whole pack of cigarettes on his person. As he landed on the deck he patted the bulge in the breast pocket of his suit to reassure himself they were still there, because he was probably going to need all of them. A pirate with a notched cutlass and terrible hygiene chose this moment to rush him as he stood there savoring one last drag of nicotine. The blond cook didn't even glance at the other man as his upward kick lifted the pirate clear off the ground and sent him careening into several of his similarly smelly cohorts.<p>

"What I would give for just three days of peace. Such creations and confections I could make!" He cried.

Two more pirates charged and were met with the same indifference as the previous unfortunate man. Sanji sighed melodramatically as he felt the second one's jaw crunch under the sole of his right shoe.

"Roasted mynah bird with orange sauce... Seared sea king and pureed ninti yams… If only I wouldn't keep getting INTERRUPTED!"

More pirates were punted into the air. They rained down upon the mass of others fighting Zoro and Luffy like a human shower. No one else seemed suicidal enough to rush him, so Sanji smoothed his suit and waded into the crowd, a black blur of feet and legs that cut through the pirates like some mad dervish.

Zoro, busy with his own group of challengers, was nearly hit by one of the felled foes.

"Watch what you're doing, shitty cook!"

Another unconscious pirate, shoe print clear upon his crooked face, flew at Zoro.

"Dammit, you curly eyebrow! I said watch where you're sending those guys!"

Far across the deck, Sanji flicked him a disdainful glance from under his long bangs and went back to booting enemies into orbit. Zoro grunted, crushed the nose of the attacker behind him with the hilt of Yubashiri and then threw the unfortunate man in the direction of his black-suited crewmate. The cook whirled, leg at the ready and round-housed the pirate back at the swordsman. Zoro ducked under the body.

"Predictable!" Sanji called to him in a sing-song voice. "Next time why don't you try—"

At that moment the mast chose to crack under one of Luffy's wilder attacks. With a splintering of wood and a boom reminiscent of cannon fire, the mass of timber and sails crashed into the deck sending bodies and slivers of wood in all directions. Zoro rolled right, and Sanji cart-wheeled out of the way. When the dust settled, the blond found himself backed up against a crowd of shocked pirates (Luffy's attacks seemed to have that effect), but they only stared at the hole where their mast used to be. All of them looked stunned and had their hands clapped to their ears, whether in disbelief or because of the deafening crash, Sanji couldn't tell. He gave his own head a little shake to try and clear the ringing.

"Luffy!" Sanji roared. "If you squish your cook, you'll never get lunch, remember?"

"Sooooooooooorrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy!" came the reply from somewhere around the remaining mast's crow's nest (though all Sanji really heard was a high pitched whine), followed by a flurry of punches aimed at the few enemies still on their feet.

The cook sniffed and made a mental note to serve Luffy something particularly vile for dessert. Zoro only laughed at their captain's antics and immediately turned to face some new challengers. He met three of them head-on and was locked in combat when Sanji noticed a problem. An ugly problem.

Rising from a pile of unconscious men to the swordsman's right was a slim, swarthy-looking man with an evil grin (missing quite a few teeth now, though) and a pistol. Zoro was either too preoccupied or didn't notice, but the slippery form eeled out from under the bodies and was approaching from behind. Normally Sanji would not have cared, the idiot swordsman could take care of himself and was a literal damage sponge, but if the ringing in his ears from the cacophonous boom earlier was any indication, then Zoro probably couldn't hear much either. _At least_, he thought smugly, _Zoro will have to owe me for this._

The blond started forward, but the mass of pirates behind him suddenly seemed to rediscover their courage, and they piled on top of him as if hoping that sheer mass would defeat him. He squirmed and kicked, breaking all manner of swords, weaponry and the occasional nose in the process. He managed to shake most of them off, but several still clung to his legs, impeding his movements. Laboriously, he pressed on towards his crewmate, dragging the tenacious pirates with him, panic starting to override annoyance.

"Oi! Zoro! Behind you!"

As expected, he got no reply or reaction from the green-haired man.

The swarthy pirate was barely a few feet behind the swordsman now and Sanji still too far away. There was no way he would miss. The hammer cocked back. Sanji kicked another man off, but knew that he was out of options. He'd never get a blow in with his feet fast enough with all the extra weight hanging on his legs. Zoro was about to get a hole in his head and he wasn't going to be able to stop it. Time seemed to slow. Sanji made a decision.

Bending his knees to gather as much power as he could, he launched himself, pirates and all, at the swarthy man, hands stretching to cover the remaining distance. As the hammer came down, his own hand grabbed the barrel.

Seeing the movement out of the corner of his eye, or perhaps just sensing the wild leap, Zoro turned.

There was a thunderous crack, and a cry, and the pleasant afternoon ended.

* * *

><p><em>To be continued...<em>


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: ** Technical difficulties fixed! Sorry for those that came and couldn't reach Chapter 2 for some reason. (Silly ) It seems to be OK now, though. Anyway, sorry for the delay! I meant to update this story once a week, but I've had a pretty bad deadline at work, so it was delayed a bit. Also, apologies if it seems a bit clunky. I'm still getting the hang of these characters, and I hope to get a more casual flow in the future chapters. Expect longer chapters too! -Mo

* * *

><p><strong>Tit for Tat<strong>

**Chapter 2: In Which Zoro Wonders What the Hell Just Happened**

* * *

><p>Sweat. Smoke. The coppery tang of blood. The air was full of these things as Zoro swept across the deck of the massive galleon, blades flashing in the sunlight. He parried, thrust and danced through an ever-increasing crowd of foes. The muscles in his shoulders began to burn with the long-familiar feel of sweet exertion. He grinned, savoring the deep vibrations in his arms as he met blade after blade.<p>

Overhead he could hear Luffy careening through the sails like some mad, distended monkey. The stretch and snap of his rubber limbs and hoots of laughter as pirates were bowled over or tossed off the ship added a cheerful beat to the afternoon's activities. As far as things on the Grand Line were concerned, this was a completely normal, blissful day, and Zoro settled into a contented rhythm as he worked.

Another bearded pirate fell under the graceful arc of Yubashiri and Zoro paused to wipe the katana on the man's tatty shirt. Generally he didn't draw much blood during these kinds of fights because Zoro relegated weaker enemies to the flat or back of his blade, but sometimes it was hard to avoid. Part of him was annoyed that any of his blades should have to be touched by such obviously unskilled foes, but in the end it was good practice for him and honestly the only way he could get a challenge from these kinds of raids. Avoiding killing a man (a must since he didn't honestly believe anyone deserved to die for Luffy's bottomless stomach or boredom) was much harder than just removing the offending head, and Zoro liked these opportunities to hone the precision of his strikes. A shame then that certain loud-mouthed idiots always had to ruin the zen of the moment.

Zoro instinctively ducked as something large flew at him. He got a quick view of a scarred face full of broken teeth before the lumpy pirate sailed past him and went through the wall of the galleon's wheel house. The swordsman straightened with an annoyed look towards the foredeck. As expected, he saw the blond cook idly lighting up another of his foul-smelling cigarettes while casually punting a big-bellied man over the side of the ship.

"Watch what you're doing, shitty cook!"

His blond crewmate gave no sign that he had heard, but sure enough another body came flying at him propelled by the power of a rather forceful kick. Zoro side-stepped the human missile with a curse.

"Dammit, you curly eyebrow! I said watch where you're sending those guys!"

He got a response this time, but it only amounted to a rather haughty blue glare from under the other man's ridiculously long bangs. Zoro's teeth began to grind. Two could play at that game.

Never taking his eyes off the lean, black-suited figure, Zoro thrust Kitetsu behind him and heard the expected, _satisfying,_ crunch of a nose collapsing under the hilted blow. Reaching back he grabbed a fist full of bloody shirt, hefted the moaning pirate and thought, _this one's heavy enough_. He took aim, then tossed.

Watching the slow arc of his fleshy projectile with satisfaction, his mind idled briefly on the question of whether or not lunch had been completed before the fight, and whether his actions now might affect his portion size later on. The dumbass cook liked to hold grudges and was not shy in serving only tofu for a week if you happened to piss him off enough (which Zoro did on a regular basis). It was a fleeting thought, though, because seeing the other man get ruffled was worth a week's worth of food. His satisfaction quickly vanished, however, as the blond pervert somehow turned in time to both see and kick the pirate back at him. The cook also shouted something, but Zoro was sure it was probably stupid and not worth hearing. Plus, having to duck _again_ was really not doing much for his mood. The nice day of beating on one's fellow man was _this_ close to being spoiled. And then he looked up and saw the mast falling towards him. Things began looking exciting again.

The central mast of a double-sailed galleon was nothing to sneer at. It probably would have taken perhaps four Zoros, hand-in-hand to circle to whole damn thing. A falling, massive pillar of wood, therefore, called for some aggressive defensive moves. He noted with satisfaction then, a second before his own powerful somersault, that the cook easily got out of the way and both were well clear of the destruction before it crashed down with an earsplitting boom. A moment's hail of debris pelted the deck. Zoro (and most of the galleon's crew) took a moment to appreciate this fine piece of destruction.

From the top of the remaining mast Zoro spied Luffy, eyes wide and delighted with his own work. The swordsman threw his head back and laughed appreciatively while the rubberman pounded his chest like a gorilla and waved his straw hat in the air.

As he grinned up at his captain, Zoro gradually noticed that everything was eerily silent. The sound of fighting had stopped, the creaks of the damaged ship… even the agitated caws of the seagulls had gone quiet. He could see Luffy's mouth moving in response to something, but the words didn't reach him. There was a muffled thrumming between his ears, an annoying background buzz that drowned out everything else. It was no concern, of course. Sound was often an unwelcome distraction when he really got down to fighting, and he tended to block it all out anyway. It also conveniently silenced certain loud-mouthed perverts. Maybe he ought to fight with earplugs in from here on out? The thought cheered him as he launched himself forward once again.

One… Two… Parry, strike… The rhythm was back. There were very few pirates left to face him now, most having taken one look at his eager, easy skill in motion and deciding that they did not, in fact, wish to defend the honor of their ship against this green-haired devil. Some still had more bravado than caution, however, and he greeted them with all the respect he could offer using the flat of his blades. It was just as he was leaning back from a clean finishing blow then, that he sensed rather than saw movement behind and to the right of him. Instinctively he whirled around and let his training take over.

First he saw the gun. His focus narrowed down to a laser point and all he knew was the glint of metal and smoke rising from a somewhat obscured barrel. Things around that singular point of black were dismissed as unimportant. Zoro almost never acknowledged the wielder of the weapons he faced unless they were a truly worthy opponent. In the case of small fries like these pirates, swords, muskets and spears were the only thing that concerned him. As he turned he was already sweeping the clean line of his blade up to dispatch the gun, but in that adrenaline slowed arc something tugged at his attention.

His focus widened. He saw the man holding the gun. The pirate's face was creased with anger and frustration, his gap-toothed mouth open in enraged surprise. Zoro imagined many people had this expression on their faces when going up against the strawhat pirates, but he barely spared a thought for this, some part of his brain still nagging at him that this was not the problem.

Yubashiri continued its trajectory… then swerved a bit and instead of slicing clean through the barrel of the gun like originally intended, the flat of the blade took the furious pirate in the temple. This deviation of plan took the swordsman by surprise. Usually when he saw guns he liked to slice them in half. He was quite good at slicing them into useless pieces of metal and enjoyed proving to their owners the superiority of swords in matters of battle. As he pondered this change of direction (only in a mildly interested sort of way, because Zoro had learned to trust his instincts to act appropriately when his brain had no time to catch up) he finally noticed the blackened and bleeding hand attached to the barrel of said gun. Again the green-haired man had to raise a mental eyebrow of surprise, because he also personally had nothing against slicing hands off either if they happened to be in some proximity to a weapon being aimed at him. As the pirate began his slow fall of defeat, the owner of the hand stumbled too. Zoro's eyes trailed up the length of those smoking fingers to the arm, to the perfectly tailored shoulders of the suit, and then to the blond head, somewhat hazy behind the cloud of gun smoke. He blinked and the elongated sense of time that fighting tended to draw out ended. And then he understood.

The swarthy pirate hit the ruined deck and lay motionless, his eyes comically bugged out and his now empty hands twitching. Zoro caught the cook's shoulder and shoved him back upright before he could fully fall over. He then absently kicked the gun into the pile of men holding onto Sanji's legs and it struck one of them a glancing blow between the eyes.

The two men stood still for a time, one shaking slightly, the other momentarily at a loss. The remaining pirates clinging to the cook's legs took the hint and scuttled away. When Zoro finally looked up, Sanji's eyes were masked by the long fringe of bangs, unreadable. A waft of salty air passed between them and carried away the last of the smoke.

"I could have handled that on my own." Zoro said finally.

The cook's shoulders stiffened visibly, and without a word the blond man turned on his heel and strode quickly back to the railing, both hands jammed deep into the pockets of his suit. He stepped over the balustrade and leaped back down to the Merry in one swift movement. Zoro stared after him and suddenly felt all the adrenaline drain out of his muscles. The deck was quiet once again, but this time it wasn't momentary deafness. Even the crowding seagulls kept their thoughts to themselves.

"Awwww… Is the fun all over?" Luffy whined from above.

As he continued to stare at the spot where the other man had disappeared from view, Zoro thought that probably it was.

* * *

><p><em>To be continued<em> in **Chapter 3: In Which Zoro Feels Awkward**


End file.
